gardiner



P. G. GARDINER.

Car Wheel,

AM. PHOTO-THO. C0. NY. (OSBURNE'S PROCESS- P. G; GARDINER, `NEW` YORK, N. Y. p

CAST-IRON CAR-WHEEL. ,a

` `Specification `of Letters Patent No. 7,967, dated llpp/[arch` `11, 1851.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, PERRY G. GARDINER, of the city, county,`and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Railroad- Car `Wheels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operat-ion of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-- Figure l, is a side elevation of such wheel; Fig. 2, is a section on a line from Xto X (see Fig. 1);I*`igs. 3 and 4 are internal views of the formation of two side plates which form, when bolted together, the eye,

hub and body of the wheel; beingla pair of plates to go together, and are shown side by side` each other, with a portion of each, cut off in the drawings, to show the preeiseway they o together, when one ofl the platesis turner l over on to the other, bringing certain projections andnotchesor recesses, formed in the edge of the rim or flange, which forms the seat for the tire, rightly into place.

The drawings are made on a scale of l-- inches to l foot-#and the letters marked on the drawings reifer to like parts in all of the figures.

. The nature of my invention consists in constmructing a rail road car wheel of three principal pieces or members of the` same, which pieces are held together with screw bolts; that is to say, I make two cast iron side plates, each forming one half of the eye, hub, arms, a horizontal or right angle flange to the plate, for the tireto rest upon, and a vertical flange at the outside periphery of the plate, to hold inplace the tire-combined with a wrought iron tire, which when bolted together, constitutes the entire wheel.

` It is known that rail road car wheels, having arms with open spaces between them, Vhave `a tendency when running under ordinary speed, to agitate the adjacent air, disturbing the dust upon the rail road track-a a `circumstance of annoyance to passengers 1n the cars, and destructive to the journals and other wearing parts of the car gear; it is also known that the uneven sidesof corrugated car or rail road wheels have a partial tendency in the same way; it 1s also known that plate wheels that have smooth and even sides have been made, which `are not subject to the above objection, but are nevertheless liable to crush down by lateral strain, unless spaces; such flanges or arms,

\ the same in cooling.

made very thick and heavy. My aim therefore, `in contriving the form of the wheel herein described, has been, to make a wheel with such arrangement of metal asito give suficientstrength to `resist lateral strain,

with the least amount ofweight of material,

possible; and yet make a full plate l (even surface) wheel, at the outsides of the same, which I have accomplished, by forming .in such plates atithe inside ofthe. same any number 0f radiating flanges, answerableto the ordinary arm` of a wheel `with open extending from the hub part of the wheel to the flange at the inside periphery,` (upon which the tire is made to rest,) and cast solid'with the plate; l projecting from the samefso as to be levelwith the thickness of thehub (which is the one half thicknessuofthe wheel when put together,) thus forming narrow or haltI arms, the two half or` semi-arms of each' plate meeting opposite to each other, at the `inside on thedividin line between them, when put together, and thus giving support to the external or outside plates (being a part of them) against lateral strain,-a nd thus disposing of the metal of the wheel to the best advantage to attain sufficient strength, lightness of materials, and an even outside surface having the least tendency possible, to agitate the air and disturb the dust upon the track.

` It will be seen that the form of these side plates is such,that they may be cast, without leaving in the casting, from the shrinkage in cooling, any injurious tension or strain ofthe metal, being a full and even disk of metal at the outside, filled in with low flanges or half arms cast solid with such plates, and being mere ribs at the inside, to sustain and support the external plate; and are in point of form free from objections (as to the condition of the metal after it is cast) as it regards the effects of the shrinkage of Y The combination of these well supported side plates with a light wrought iron tire, makeup a wheel less in weight, in proportionto its strength,than ever has been heretofore made, by the combination of the "same-mixed wrought or cast iron materials; and in my belief, I have attained to a new and useful improvement in the constructing ofrail road car wheel.`

I will now proceed to describe my inven-` tion in order that others,skilled in the art` of which this is a branch, may be able to make, construct and put in operation such wheel.

A is the front plate; B is the back plate, and C the tire-the screw bolts or rivets a, pass through both plates near the eye of the hub It, and near the periphery of the wheel, and together conjoin the two plates firmlythe projections c on plate A, are made to fit into spaces d in plate B, such projections are the full depth of the width of the tire, that is, the projection meets, in contact with the o-pposite plate, there being no flange raised on plate B, at this point; the semi-arms e, flange f, and hub L, (see Fig. 3,) are level and meet each other on the dividing `line (see lc, Fig. 2,) when the wheel is put together. Projection z', on plate A, are made to fit into recesses i on plate B, when conjoined; thus interlocking they and projections c, and recesses d, mutually sustain each other, and overcome a known defect in ordinary plate wheels-which are liable to fracture from the strain being sometimes thrown upon a single one half of the hub; the object of all of these projection pieces and recesses, is to keep the two plates from twisting or sliding from their seats with each other, thus relieving the transverse upon the screw bolt. lVhen such plates are firmly and properly bolted together the wheel is put into the lathe and the seat for the tire t-urned 0H perfectly, the bolts are then slackened, and

the part is then ready to receive the tire; which tireis then heated and shrunk on to t-he body of the wheel-the expansion of the metal of the tire being sufficient when heated, to admit the same over the vertical flange l; and while cooling the screw bolts are again screwed up tightly. It will be seen that the tire, when shrunk on to the tread flange of the wheel m, will be held in place by the vertical flanges Z, at each side and edge of the tire.

I do not make any claim to the combination, self considered, of wrought iron tire with a cast iron body, or yet for full plate sides, or for internal arms in section when cast solid with the side plates, of a rail road car wheel, for such have all been known and used before; but I What I do claim as new and desire to secure in Letters Patent is,

The precise manner in which I have constructed and put together the parts of my wheel, by which, thus formed, they are free of strain from shrinkage in cooling, and have semi internal flanges as described, to protect the wheel when in use, against lateral strain, and are bolted together and combined with a wrought iron tire, in the manner set forth.

P. G. GARDINER. Subscribed in the presence of- THos. W. HARNEY, DE VAN WYSK. 

